How fruit juice is made

HOW IS 100% ORANGE JUICE MADE
not from concentrate

Fruit is harvested for juice production

The fruit is processed quickly to preserve its vitamins and nutritional content

Pasteurisation keeps juice fresh for longer

UNPASTEURISED

Juice to be consumed the same day NFC*

PASTEURISED

Juice NFC*

Packaging such as long-life cartons help to safeguard the taste and nutritional content of the juice inside by protecting it from light and air

100% fruit juice is only fruit that is juiced

100% fruit juice never contains added sugar or preservatives

Drinking 100% fruit juice is a convenient way to increase fruit intake and support good health

* Not from concentrate
The information in this document is provided for professional audiences in a non-commercial context. It is not intended for consumers. The AIJN, European Fruit Juice Association shall have no liability whatsoever if this information is used or presented for promotional or commercial purposes.

The process behind fruit juice depends on whether the fruit juice is ‘from concentrate’ or ‘not from concentrate’. Let’s take orange juice as an example:

Not from concentrate

As with all fruit juices, the story of orange juice starts in the groves, where the fruit is grown. Local growers cultivate oranges until they are ripe and ready to be picked manually. Once the mature fruit is harvested, it goes straight to the factory where it is inspected – only ripe oranges are selected for orange juice. The inspection process goes quickly to ensure that the fruit retains all its natural vitamins and nutrients. At harvesting, oranges are washed before squeezing.

Once the juice is squeezed from the orange, it is rapidly pasteurised. This keeps the juice fresh longer, and is a widely accepted approach that protects its natural nutrients and maintains premium quality.

From concentrate

Here, the process has a few more stages. Depending on the technique, the juice is either heated by steam so the water in juice evaporates, or ‘ultra-filtrated’, and then concentrated using a reverse osmosis technique. Juice concentrate is born! Next, water is added back to the concentrate and blended to produce high-quality juice. Finally, the juice is pasteurised before packaging.

Regardless of the method used, fruit juice producers make sure to capture the fruit’s natural goodness and the qualities from the whole fruit from which the juice is squeezed. Not-from-concentrate juice and from-concentrate juice use the same fresh raw materials, and are both considered (by the European Commission’s definition) to be minimally processed fruit. After processing, the fruit juice is filled and packed in a way that helps protect its natural nutrients and quality.